The DJI Mavic Is What The Future of Camera Drones Will Look Like

Drone camera technology has grown exponentially in the past few years—somehow that’s almost an understatement.

Okay, let’s try again, a few years ago, we could never have imagined how accessible drones would be to the average shooter. The recently announced DJI Mavic is the perfect example of the amazing, ingenious features that modern drones implement. While each of the recently announced foldable drones (GoPro Karma) pack serious punch, for me, it’s hard to argue against what the Mavic offers.

Before I dive into what the Mavic can do for you, I think it’s important to point out one way in which GoPro has them really beat (at least for now).

The GoPro Karma uses a Hero5 instead of an onboard camera like DJI’s Mavic. The Mavic may have a powerful camera housed in it, but in my opinion, it's the inferior option of the two. The GoPro Hero5 is absolutely a more quality camera when you’re looking at straight cleanliness and definition.

This can be argued, but when comparing side by side, I can’t imagine how many could disagree. But, as disappointing as this sounds, that’s where the GoPro ends its real fight with the Mavic.

The folding feature of the drones makes them easy to compare, but the Mavic separates itself with a battalion of features that make it a drone made to thrive in 2017.

First of all, and perhaps my favorite part of the Mavic is that it’s one of DJI’s most affordable options without losing the groundbreaking ease of flight and functionality that makes the whole brand unique.

The DJI Mavic uses its most accurate system to date to keep track of exactly where the Mavic took off (and also where it can land), but it doesn’t end there. The Mavic uses two visual sensors that give you the ability to do some truly incredible things.

Perhaps my favorite feature is being able to set your exact distance to the ground so that you can just worry about your forward/backward motion and not up and down. These are the kinds of things that allow you to focus on your composition— and that’s hugely helpful.

Also, the Mavic comes with some amazing tracking software that you can use with the touch of your screen. This trains the Mavic’s view directly on your subject, and when you couple that with the three different types of modes Trace, Profile or Spotlight, you end up with a drone that is doing the majority of the stressful work for you.

What makes the Mavic special isn’t that it’s a new drone, or that it’s foldable. It’s that it has all of the amazing functionality of a much bigger drone but with a true focus on user experience.

The DJI Mavic is the drone that puts the power of the image in your hands and takes the burden of the usual drone operation stress off your shoulders.

Recent Review:

(planetMitch note… I’ve been looking for reviews and this one is very recent and talks about the quality differences between the phantom 4 and the mavic pro)

The DJI Mavic Pro is a small yet powerful drone that turns the sky into your creative canvas easily and without worry, helping you make every moment an aerial moment. Its compact size hides a high degree of complexity that makes it one of DJI’s most sophisticated flying cameras ever. 24 high-performance computing cores, an all-new transmission system with a 4.3mi (7km) range, 5 vision sensors, and a 4K camera stabilized by a 3-axis mechanical gimbal, are at your command with just a push of your thumb or a tap of your finger.

The Mavic from DJI packs features you once thought possible only on much larger platforms into a compact quadcopter that is snappy, agile, and captures high-resolution images. The drone features an advanced flight control system that draws on a host of sensors — including a ground-facing camera, ultrasound, GPS, dual redundant IMUs, and more — to keep track of where it is flying in 3D space and even avoid collisions.

The Mavic works in tandem with DJI's GO mobile app for accessing settings, getting a telemetry readout, viewing a low-latency video feed, and even editing and sharing your footage. In addition traditional joystick style controls, you can fly with simple tap-based commands, and the Mavic can even recognize gestures for the perfect selfie.

Bret Hoy is a filmmaker, photographer and writer based out of St. Louis, Missouri. Mainly focused on documentary and experimental film, he has produced, directed, shot and edited many short films and a few long form works.

I don’t like the sharpness on the P4 as it was said on the review it’s easier to add sharpness if needed than soften too much sharpness. One note the inspire already featured the tap to focus capacity. Thanks for a great review